SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford College again will emphasize its close relationship with the City of Spartanburg during Homecoming activities as reunions are held at downtown restaurants and the annual Pep Rally and Street Party take place on Morgan Square on Friday, Oct. 6.

This is the fourth year that Wofford has emphasized its partnership with the Spartanburg community by taking the celebration downtown.

“The central city restaurants are perfect for our reunions,” says Debbi Thompson, director of special alumni projects. “This year, we’re very excited that our Pep Rally and Street Party are moving to the beautiful new Morgan Square, surrounded by Spartanburg’s great restaurants and shops. It’s a wonderful showcase for our alumni, especially those who haven’t been back to Spartanburg in a long time.” (Note that Dunbar Street at Morgan Square will be closed for the events beginning late Thursday night until 11:30 p.m. on Friday.)

“Classes Without Quizzes: Wofford’s Mini Alumni College” again will offer alumni the opportunity to explore a variety of topics on Friday afternoon with the colleges’ staff and faculty. The program will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6, in various locations on campus. (See the list below for the topics.)

Private reunions will be held on Friday evening in restaurants and other venues in downtown. The Wofford-community Pep Rally and Street Party will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. on Morgan Square.

Saturday’s activities will include the Homecoming 5K race on campus; the Wofford Alumni Executive Council Meeting; the presentation of the Wofford National Alumni Association awards; Academic Reception and tours of historic Main Building; a Book Signing at Ben Wofford Books, featuring alumni, faculty and staff authors; and a campus-only picnic before the 1:30 p.m. kickoff of Terriers vs. The Citadel in the Beacon Iced Tea Bowl V in Gibbs Stadium. (Tickets are $20 per person reserved or general admission; for ticket information, call 597-4090.)

The Wofford National Alumni Association service awards will be presented at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the Papadopoulos Building. The public is invited to attend. (Biographies of the recipients of the Alumni Distinguished Service Award, the Young Alumna of the Year Award and the Distinguished Citizen Award are provided at the end of this release.)

Being honored with the Alumni Distinguished Service Award is Dr. Robert E. Holman, a 1953 graduate of Wofford, a retired physician who continues to make house calls and holds a “free clinic” on the back porch of his home in Elloree, S.C., more than 10 years after his retirement in 1994.

The Young Alumna of the Year Award will be presented to Dr. Michelle Phillips Hudspeth (Class of 1995), a pediatric hematology and oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Md.

Hayne Hipp, a Greenville, S.C., private investor, former CEO of Liberty Corp. in Greenville, S.C., and longtime Wofford supporter, will be presented with the Distinguished Citizen Award.

Following Saturday’s game will be the annual Terrier Ball, from 7 p.m. to midnight in Benjamin Johnson Arena, featuring food, entertainment, and live and silent auctions. Tickets are $50 per person; call 597-4090. All proceeds go to support scholarships for Wofford student-athletes.

Here is a full schedule of Homecoming 2006 activities:

Friday, Oct. 6
8:30 a.m.-noon – Registration and ticket pickup for registered participants, Alumni Office, Papadopoulos Building. Tickets also can be picked up at the first event a registered participant attends.

Noon – Dedication of the Corella Bonner Service Learning Center, behind Main Building (Evins Street side); guest, the Rev. Wayne Meisel, president of the Bonner Foundation. Open to the public.

2 p.m. – Women’s Soccer vs. College of Charleston, Snyder Field; free and open to the public

Biographies of National Alumni Association Service Award Winners

Dr. Robert E. Holman, a 1953 graduate of Wofford, is a retired physician who continues to make house calls and holds a “free clinic” on the back porch of his home in Elloree, S.C., more than 10 years after his retirement in1994. A native of Creston, S.C., he was a country doctor for nearly 40 years in rural Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and entered Wofford following the war, in 1946, with plans to graduate and go to medical school. A serious illness, pulmonary hemorrhage, interrupted his college career as he went in and out of veterans’ hospitals for treatment over the next three years. Ultimately, he returned to Wofford and graduated in 1953. He went on to graduate in 1957 from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where he met his wife, the former Patricia Allen of Auburn, Ala. They have two children. In 1996, Holman wrote and self-published a book, “The Black Bag,” an account of his life as a country doctor, described as part “thank you” and part salute to the people he served.

Michelle Phillips Hudspeth is a pediatric hematology and oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Md. She received her bachelor of science degree from Wofford in 1995 and her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. She did her pediatrics residency at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is a Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. She earned the dean’s award full scholarship to medical school and received the school’s Henry Tracy Ivy Award and the American Medical Women’s Association Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Award for being first honor graduate of her medical school class. At Johns Hopkins, she was honored by her colleagues with the David M. Kamsler Award for excellence and compassion in pediatric care. Recently, she completed an appointment as chief resident for the Johns Hopkins Harriet Lane service, where she oversaw 80 pediatric residents and wrote chapters on hematology, immunology and oncology for the Harriet Lane Handbook, a bestselling pediatric guide.

Hayne Hipp is a private investor and former CEO of Liberty Corp. in Greenville, S.C. He is a founder and member of the board of directors of the Liberty Fellowship, a two-year leadership program created by a partnership of Hipp, Wofford and The Aspen Institute and housed at Wofford. He also is chair of the Peace Center for Performing Arts. He is a former trustee of the Palmetto Business Forum, Greenville County School District, the National Urban League, Washington and Lee University, and the South Carolina Research Authority, as well as the former chair of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. Hipp is a director of SCANA Corp. and a former director of Dan River Inc., Liberty Corp. and Wachovia Corp. A graduate of Washington and Lee, he earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and completed additional studies at Harvard University.